Retail expert, broadcaster and consumer champion, Mary is to bring her vision for the future of the high street to the Spring Fair. Speaking in conversation with Ashley Armstrong, Retail Editor at The Times, Portas will discuss how businesses, particularly those on the high street, must adopt kinder ways of behaving. Drawing on her personal philosophy honed over a lifetime's experience of working in retail, she will outline her manifesto for change and her belief that we must make retail a better place to work for everyone.The one-time Government high streets advisor will also reveal her advice on how struggling retailers can rebuild their relationships with customers and save their stores.
Mary said: "Big retailers will give you many reasons why the high street is failing – the internet, economic climate, Brexit - but the biggest reason is that as people and consumers, we've changed our value system. We've realised that the old system of 'more equals better', is not going to be better for us as people or for our planet. The fact is, old-school consumer culture, reducing people to what they buy rather than who they are, is dying. And businesses that were set up to feed that beast are crumbling. This new era, The Kindness Economy, is going to be about sentience. It's going to be about care, respect and understanding the implications of what we are doing."
Spring Fair runs from 2nd-4th February at the NEC, Birmingham. Visit springfair.com
